looking for the right scanner

[scruggsy]

hello
not really new to scanning as I have a bct8 scanner a sportcat racing scanner, and a realistic pro34 scanner, up until now just been monitoring what I could receive, but I want to get a little more serious so I started shopping for a new scanner, now i keep hearing all this talk about going "digital", I live in the Cleveland county area of NC and the uniden rep told me that cleveland county sheriff is already digital, anyway i'm looking to get into a good scanner that wont be obsolete in a year and can be easily moved from home to car, i prefer the base style similar to the bct8, 1st which brand of scanner is best? i'm kinda partial to uniden but willing to look at other brands, 2nd, is there a benefit to owning a handheld over a base or vice versa? i am looking at the Uniden Bearcat BCD996XT Scanner, but trying to maintain a $400.00 or less budget,
thanks Scott.

 

[Rt169Radio]

Hello and welcome to Radio Reference.

A mobile base scanner can be moved back and forth from car and house quite easily,but of course a handheld scanner is even faster.As for the best scanner brand,that is usually debated between each persons choice on looks and functions,I might like Uniden,but another person might like GRE or RadioShack.Those three scanner brands have their own functions that might be better then the other scanners functions and vice versa.

For the handheld scanner VS a base scanner,do you want to move your scanner from your car to house and vice versa alot? If so a handheld scanner would be the winner.If you want to spend more time on making a better scanning setup weather its a mobile or base setup,a base scanner would be the choice.

So basically its between portability or stationary,because most scanner brands make their base and handheld scanners alike in functions and programing.Another thing is that sometimes base/mobile scanners handle external antennas better then handhelds because handhelds sometimes can be too sensitive for external antennas.

 

[jfhtm350]

Looks like your gonna need a Digital Trunking Scanner.

I have a Radio Shack Pro-106 handheld and a Pro-197 mobile scanner, which is what you will need from the Radio Shack side of the scanners. There is another one, Pro-18 I believe but it is more expensive. I am not a Radio Shack salesman but I like mine. I cant speak for a Uniden because I havent owned one. You are also gonna need a programming cable and some programming software.

 

[scruggsy]

Thanks for the info guys, I am still trying to decide which is the best for the money and not get caught up with the bells and whistles, I want one with a lot of features but but not pay for something I will never use, if that makes sense

 

[Rt169Radio]

Thanks for the info guys, I am still trying to decide which is the best for the money and not get caught up with the bells and whistles, I want one with a lot of features but but not pay for something I will never use, if that makes sense

I understand what you mean,but if you want to listen to a digital system your going to have to get a digital scanner.Digital scanners are known to have bells and whistles,do you want a non-digital alpha tag scanner or a basic show the freq only scanner? Alpha tag means that instead of just showing the freq you can have words and numbers,for example 155.000 could be Oakridge FD instead of just showing the freq.

 

[eagleswings01]

Welcome to RR! Would a PSR-500 work for you? It's within your budget!

 

[scruggsy]

Alpha tagging definitely, not sure about the psr-500, do you have one

 

[safetyobc]

I recommend either the PSR-800 or the BCD396XT. I prefer the 800 because of the onboard recording and ease of use.

 

[eagleswings01]

Alpha tagging definitely, not sure about the psr-500, do you have one

I have the PSR-310 and absolutely love it. Because my interest is aviation, the 310 works just fine for me. However, if I ever wanted to upgrade to digital then I would jump on the 500.

Good luck!
Mike

 

[Rt169Radio]

Your county is digital so your going to have to get a digital scanner to be able to listen to them.

Here is a link to the current digital scanners.

Digital Scanners

Also keep in mind that Uniden has a few more bells and whistles then GRE.

 

[scruggsy]

does the psr500 have the alpha tagging

 

[safetyobc]

Yes it does.

 

[safetyobc]

Also keep in mind that Uniden has a few more bells and whistles then GRE.

I'm not sure that is a true statement. GRE has some that Uniden does not. Each has their own feature sets.

 

[eagleswings01]

Here is the Grecom PSR-500 wiki page for more information.

 

[scruggsy]

The wiki page still doesn't clarify if it's alpha tagging, but I found a couple videos on YouTube and it appears to be

 

[Rt169Radio]

The wiki page still doesn't clarify if it's alpha tagging, but I found a couple videos on YouTube and it appears to be

This is from the wiki page,

"16-character alpha-tagging with text entry can show ID code or service name"

 

[scruggsy]

I stand corrected! Not sure how I missed that, thanks for pointing that out for me.

 

[BeerNutz]

For home/car use I would go with a digital, base/mobile radio. One of the basic things you want, is to be able to hear the unit while in your car. With a handheld, you will have to have volume at max and may still not hear it. With a base/mobile radio, you would most likely have to turn it down from max volume.

 

[safetyobc]

For mobile setup, yes a base/mobile radio is best for audio purposes. For home, my PSR800 has plenty of audio power. I prefer the handheld at home because of the ability to have batteries when the electricity is out. The HP1 can use batteries as well as function as a base. I'm not sold on it as a mobile unit but that is my preference.

 

[eagleswings01]

I stand corrected! Not sure how I missed that, thanks for pointing that out for me.

No worries - there is so much info in the wiki pages that it's easy to do! :wink: